Alex's RP roll system (BETA)
The rolling system is pretty straight forward. You will be notified to make a /roll 20 under a specific skill, you'll take that roll and add your bonus, if any. If your result meets or exceeds the required roll set by the event runner, you succeed. If not, you fail. WHEN TO ROLL Most of the time you won't be rolling. This RP system focuses much more heavily on the logic and emote system. Rolling will occur in situations where minute levels of power-emoting would otherwise take place. Examples of these situations are when you're trying to pick-pocket you and they automatically determine that you've been caught, when you're trying to hide and someone automatically determines they see you, or when you're being grappled and you automatically determine that you escape. These situations tend to undermine scenarios and characters. With this system, all of that no longer becomes an issue. ADVANTAGE AND DISADVANTAGE Again, most the time you won't need to roll, but when you do, there is something important to keep in mind, and that is if you have advantage or disadvantage. The majority of the time, you will have neither and you'll roll normally. The Event Runner will determine if you have advantage or disadvantage. Multiple cases of advantage or disadvantage do not stack. Furthermore, so long as you have at least one advantage and one disadvantage, they cancel out and you roll normally. Even if you have thirty advantages for something and there is one thing holding you back with disadvantage, you still roll normally. ADVANTAGE An example of when you might have advantage is if you're invisible and rolling for stealth. Another example of advantage might be trying to grapple/pin someone much slower and smaller than you. Another might boil down to experience doing a certain thing. If your character has worked with dwarves before, they understand the culture and know how to talk with them, then perhaps advantage on trying to coerce a dwarf is necessary. When you have advantage, simply roll the dice twice and take the higher result. DISADVANTAGE An example of when you might have disadvantage is if you're in full armor and trying to sneak past a guard unnoticed. Another example of disadvantage might be trying to jump a chasm with your athletics skill but having a character with an arrow through their leg. Another might boil down to a lack of experience doing something. If your character has never tried to pickpocket anyone before, then perhaps disadvantage of slight of hand is necessary. When you have disadvantage, simply roll the dice twice and take the lower result. THE SKILLS There are ten skills, below is the list of those ten along with a few examples of when they might be used. ACROBATICS * Freeing yourself from grapples, bindings, and the like. * Squeezing through tight spaces quickly. * Balancing on thin/fragile footings without falling. * Landing on your feet after a fall. * Ignoring minor falling injuries, such as falling from a horse. * Tumbling ATHLETICS * Shoving Creatures / Resisting Shoves * Grappling Creatures * Going through rough terrain, such as stairs, without slowing down. * Jumping a certain height/distance. * Swimming through a current/in heavy armor. * Acting in mid-air. COERCION * Getting people to do/discuss what you want (convincing or intimidating.) * Debating. * Seducing. * Flattering someone. DECEPTION * Lying. * Fake crying. * Disguising emotions. * Faking Dead. * Passing yourself as someone else. * Playing it cool after being seen following someone. INSIGHT * Identifying whether someone is being deceitful or evasive when answering a question. * Telling if someone is following you rather than going the same direction. * Judging character. * Perceiving if someone is being mentally dominated. * Getting the meaning of underlying messages. INVESTIGATION * Searching someone (dead or alive) or an area for clues or deductions. * Seeing through illusions * Searching for specific information PERCEPTION * Spotting/hearing hidden threats. * Recognizing far away things. * Finding minute details. * Identifying a noises source. SLEIGHT OF HAND * Stealing from people without being noticed. * Putting something on someone without being noticed. * Concealing belongings on yourself. * Performing gestures or hand movements without being noticed. STEALTH * Hiding. * Moving without being heard. * Merging into a crowd. * Following someone. WILL * Resisting Mental Attacks. * Keeping calm in a stressful situation. * Ability to face fear. BUILDING A CHARACTER This is pretty simple, and I've even made a template below that you can copy + paste into your TRP or whatever. Just follow these steps in order: Choose your character's Experience Ranking, choose what skills you're proficient in, copy + paste the template somewhere you can edit, allocate your points + add your proficiency bonuses, and now you're done. When allocating your points, try to resemble your character as accurately as possible. If your character doesn't have daft hands or any background in thievery, you probably shouldn't put many, if any, points in slight of hand. EXPERIENCE RANKINGS This is where the honesty system comes in. Pretty much everyone will try to make the most bad-ass character they can, and a lot of people will feel like they don't have enough points to properly resemble their character and will then be tempted to claim themselves higher on the experience chart than their character actually is. DON'T DO THIS! If you're going to play a Master, or even an expert, you better have a great reason as to why you fit into that category. Furthermore, if you do fit into that category, you should be held to a higher standard. As it turns out, there are not that many reckless/stupid archmages, and just because you're the best paladin the world has ever seen, it doesn't mean you should be maxing out your deception just cause you like the skill. Below are the categories and the types of characters that typically would fit them. NOTE: That does not mean your character logically and automatically falls into that category. * NOVICE. No combat training, barely any life experience, uneducated, etc. * APPRENTICE. Studying Mages, Training Soldiers, Squires, Common Thugs, etc. * JOURNEYMAN. Mercenaries, Soldiers, Trained Mages, Bandits, etc. * ADEPT. Officers, Knights, Paladins, Powerful Mages, Highly Trained Criminals, etc. * EXPERT. High-Ranking Officers, Hardened Knights, Infamous Bandits, etc. * MASTER. Generals, Archmages, Archdruids, Criminal Masterminds, etc. EXPERIENCE RANKING BENEFITS NOTE: A skill can never have more than 10 points in it, including with proficiency. * NOVICE = Fourteen points, no proficiency. * APPRENTICE = Sixteen points, one proficiency. * JOURNEYMAN = Twenty-one points, one proficiency. * ADEPT = Twenty-three points, two proficiency. * EXPERT = Twenty-five points, three proficiency. * MASTER = Twenty-seven points, four proficiency. PROFICIENCY Proficiency is simple. For each proficiency your ranking allows, choose a skill. For that skill, add 3 to the total after you've allocated the points. Mark skills you're proficient in with an (*). Note: I know you may have a character who is proficient in more than your rank allows, proficiency doesn't correlate to being good at a skill, simply pick which skills you think best represent your character. TEMPLATE ACROBATICS............(add value) ATHLETICS............(add value) COERCION............(add value) DECEPTION............(add value) INSIGHT............(add value) INVESTIGATION............(add value) PERCEPTION............(add value) SLEIGHT OF HAND............(add value) STEALTH............(add value) WILL............(add value) OPTIONAL RULE (DICE COMBAT) Some people absolutely HATE emote battles based on logic because fights tend to last forever and nobody wants to lose. Those are real concerns. Given this, here is additional ruling for a simple combat system. Basically, when making an attack, roll /20. If the number plus your modifier supersedes the target's AC, then you hit and damage is dealt. ARMOR CLASS (AC) Determining your armor class is a lot like determining your experience ranking, but is in fact entirely separate. You can be a novice in experience and still have the strongest armor ever made, though, that is incredibly unlikely. Furthermore, armor fluctuates. A mage might have no defense prior to an abjuration spell, but after an abjuration spell they might be as protected as a knight in full plate. Similarly, when a knight isn't wearing his armor they won't be nearly as protected should they be fully donned. For this reason, jot down a couple different armor classes for your character in respect to the different situations they might find themselves in. * NO PROTECTION. No combat training, no armor, weak, etc. = 10 AC * WEAK PROTECTION. Light armor, little training, decent physique, etc. = 12 AC * PROTECTED. Good armor, basic abjuration, combat trained, strong physique, etc. = 14 AC * GOOD''' PROTECTION. Full plate w/o shield, extensive training, decent abjuration, etc. = 16 AC * '''GREAT PROTECTION. Full plate and shield, exceptional training, good abjuration, etc. = 18 AC * AMAZING PROTECTION. Enchanted full plate and shield, masterful abjuration, etc. = 20 AC ATTACK BONUS (AB) While armor class isn't determined by your character's experience (baring combat training,) your ability to hit something is. In addition to the skill points you get for your experience level, you also get the following bonuses to your attack. * NOVICE = +0 AB * APPRENTICE = +2 AB * JOURNEYMAN = +4 AB * ADEPT = +6 AB * EXPERT = +8 AB * MASTER = +10 AB FATIGUE POINTS (FP) Rather than your typical hit points, fatigue points is how much hits you can avoid before you take a mortal blow. This would be illustrated by your character's building exhaustion throughout a fight as their fatigue points are depleted up until the point that they are too tired or off balance to properly defend themselves. In other words, the defender can still emote that they dodged, so long as they have fatigue points, even if the attack against them was successful (they still lose the fatigue point.) Once your fatigue points hit zero, the following successful hit against you will have the desired affect of the attack, whether that be a knock out or a chopping of the head. Fatigue points are dependent on your character's experience for reasons that their experience is their training and ability to defend themselves. This in not an abstract concept like constitution or health points. * NOVICE = +0 FP * APPRENTICE = +2 FP * JOURNEYMAN = +4 FP * ADEPT = +6 FP * EXPERT = +8 FP * MASTER = +10 FP ADVANTAGE AND DISADVANTAGE (COMBAT) Advantage and disadvantage can extend to combat situations should you decide to implement the optional combat system detailed at the bottom of this wiki. If fighting against another player, majority of the participating players have to agree if a situation calls for disadvantage or advantage. If there is a moderator present, the moderator has the final say. If combat is PVE, the moderator of the NPCs has the final say. Below are some examples of advantage and disadvantage in a combat setting. ADVANTAGE (COMBAT) An example of when you might have combat advantage is if you're making an attack on someone who doesn't see you. Another example of advantage might be trying to grapple/pin someone much slower and smaller than you. If your character is charging on horseback against a stationary and unprepared target, you might be in a situation where you should have advantage. When you have advantage, simply roll the dice twice and take the higher result. DISADVANTAGE (COMBAT) An example of when you might have combat disadvantage is if you're trying to hit something you can't see. Another example of disadvantage might be trying to shoot something with an arrow that is outside your comfortable reach. Another might boil down to a lack of experience doing something. If your character has no training in using a certain weapon, then they too might have disadvantage. When you have disadvantage, simply roll the dice twice and take the lower result. WHAT COMBAT BETWEEN PLAYERS SHOULD LOOK LIKE Inevitably conflict will happen, whether it be in a scheduled guild event or at a bar brawl. For those of you using the RP system, it might be a good idea to get an idea of what to expect when PvP combat comes into the picture. It's super simple, but let me break it down for you all. BASIC RULES 1. Think of a ROUND as six seconds. Both players will ICly be fighting at the same time, but since that's impossible with an emote system, just emote accordingly. IC combat isn't turn based like old final fantasy games. That means you and your opponent are both taking your turns within this 6 second window each. Sometimes you might not be able to cast crazy spells or dash super long distances in the allotted time before your opponent takes their turn. As always, be reasonable and be considerate. 2. A TURN is basically just what you do when it's your turn to emote. First emote, then make a '/roll 20' attack roll if you're attacking. Even if it's a grapple or a trip, or whatever, for PvP purposes, if it's something physical, you will be using your combat bonus. A success causes the opponent to lose a fatigue point. (Yes, even trips cause a loss of fatigue. Remember. It's not health points.) 3. FATIGUE POINTS are a big deal. Since a player won't officially be forced from combat until their fatigue points reach zero, defensive emotes might seem a little bit like power emotes. As cool as it would be to score that killing blow with one hit, if the receiving player still has fatigue points, they are under no obligation to accept the instant-death you're hoping to deliver. Sometimes there might not be a logical escape from the attack, in these situations, both players must agree on the acceptance of a death/knockout and fatigue points will automatically hit zero. This isn't much fun for anyone involved most of the time, and mutual acceptance is key. HOW RP COMBAT SHOULD GO 1. Determine who goes first. Roll initiative. 2. On your turn, take an action. Remember, only do something your character could manage to do in a shared six second window. 3. Roll for whatever action you took. 4. For the person being attacked, if the attack was successful, emote how it costed a you a fatigue point/damaged you a little. If it failed, emote how you avoided the damage. Either way, combine this emote with your own offensive emote. 5. Repeat step 4. SPECIAL RULES Here you will find a list of special rules and how they will be dealt with using this RP system. These are all typical to combat RP, which the system isn't initially made for anyways, but it's still an important part. This list is expected to grow, but currently, here are the issues we've come across. INITIATIVE Initiative is determined at the beginning of combat and is done so by using /roll 20 + your character's acrobatic score. Highest roll goes first. ILLUSIONS To create an illusion simply /roll 20 and add your AB. To see through an illusion /roll 20 and add your perception. Whatever number is higher wins. Failing to see through an illusion implies that you believe what you see is real, giving the illusionist their desired effect in the vast majority of cases. In the case that you get damaged while affected by an illusionist, you have advantage on your next perception roll to make truth of the matter. ESCAPING HOLDS AND GRAPPLES A grapple or spell that holds a target still is considered a simple attack, and thus will be a /roll 20 + AB vs AC. Escaping a grapple or hold by physical means requires a /roll 20 + athletics or acrobatics (whichever is higher) vs the total roll that grappled you. If the grappling/holding party takes any action but trying to maintain the hold on your character (such as resorting to physical attacks) than you have advantage on trying to escape the following turn. Numerous spells can escape a grapple without a roll in most situations. Category:Roleplaying Guides Category:Dungeons & Dragons